Sixsixty's First Class First Date with the Belair 35mm Back

Stoked about the newest accessory in town? Then you might want to check out what community member sixsixty has to say about the new Belair 35mm Back under the cut!

Late last year, our bellowed Belle of the ball, the Lomography Belair X 6-12 landed on the shores of our stores. And now, she’ll be back on the spotlight again, thanks to the newest accessory on the block — the Belair 35mm back!

In line with this, we’ve asked some of our community members to take it our for a test run. Sixsixty is known for his saturated, fun and colorful shots and we looked forward to see what he’ll do with his shots. Here’s what he had to say about the experience.

What were your first thoughts when you found out about Lomography’s 35mm Back for the Belair X 6-12?

I was blown away when I heard there was going to be a 35mm back for the Belair. I own a Diana F+ camera and my favorite accessory for that is the 35mm back. I was just thrilled because I knew it was going to be just as good — and for my current favorite Lomo camera. Also, when I heard there would also be sprockets, that just sealed the deal.

How did you find the installation of the accessory to the Belair X 6-12? Did you have any trouble with it?

The geniuses at Lomography created the absolute best design for the Belair 35mm back. It was simply a marvel of engineering — how easy it was to just remove the standard 120 back and replace it with the new 35mm back. It took no tools or any permanent removal of parts which I loved. And, reversing it back to a 120 camera was just as easy.

I’ve worked with other Lomo cameras in the past like the Diana and Lubitel to incorporate 35mm film and this was the easiest by far. Also once the back is on, it’s like it was always meant to be this way, the film is easy to load and rewind. No hitches here at all!

What film/s did you use with the Belair X 6-12 equipped with its 35mm Back? Which of these do you think produced the best results when paired with the Belair?

I ran a gamut of films through this camera! The list includes Lomography CN 100, 400, 800, Redscale, T64, and B&W 100, 400. In addition, I also threw in a slew of Fuji Film including Velvia, Provia, Reala, and PRO 160.

My favorite by far, is running slide film through this camera and developing the film as slide. This will give you gorgeous saturated colors and deep blue bright skies. But, the best part is this is how you get the crisp white sprocket holes when you scan the film!

Given your experience with the new accessory for the Belair X 6-12, what kinds of subjects do you think this combination suits best?

This accessory shoots wide! Which is just amazing for detailed landscapes of cities and nature. But, my favorite subjects to shoot is portraits. It’s easy to get a full shot of a person if your turn the camera to portrait and its great for getting your whole family or group of friends in one shot if you keep the camera in landscape.

What was it like shooting with the amazing extra-long panoramic format for the Belair?

It’s SO wide! You need to prepare for how wide this is. I find it amazing. Now, whenever I go out, I look for the interesting landscapes that have compelling shapes and structures that spread across the horizon. I’m thrilled that I can now include all of this in one shot. Don’t be afraid to go too wide!

Do you have any tips and tricks for those who want to try out this analogue combination?

When you’re shooting something that is really far away or even at about a medium distance, you don’t need to worry, but if you’re shooting up close you really need to pay attention to what they call parallax. It’s when what you see in the view finder doesn’t exactly match up to what the lens is capturing. Since the 35mm shot is about half of what you’re getting with a medium format film, this can be really noticeable. So practice this and remember when you’re shooting up close to adjust a tiny bit to make up for parallax.

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